By Jane Uyi Orobosa
Pint-size but with an over bloated ego of himself, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo State and the senator representing Edo North, has often come miserably short when moderation is the subject. His Achilles tendon is his inability to control his tongue. And that’s understandable. A man with immense gift of the gab cannot but always see himself in the mould of a Colossus and every other person a “miserable being peeping under his huge legs”. Or so he thinks of himself.
Those afflicted with the illness of the gift of the gab, most often than not assume that whatever comes from their buccal cavities can’t be challenged or queried but accepted as the gospel truth by every other mortal. No, sir, you are wrong.
On Friday, he led the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo and his running mate, Hon Dennis Idahosa, with the Minister of Niger Delta, Abubakar Momoh to see President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Aso Rock.
While he conveniently hid his obviously competence challenged “slowed engine” candidate from speaking to the media, he chose to address the press himself along with Momoh. Of course everybody understands why Okpebholo must not be allowed to speak to the media. He neither knows what to say or how to say it. That’s the type of ‘black market good’ Oshiomhole is hawking and trying to persuade Edo people to buy.
In the course of his addressing the media, and as usual for a man who covets publicity as if his life depends on it, said so many things. When he finally managed to yield the stage, he still came back to add ‘something’ he forgot.
You can be sure Oshiomhole, in his elements and his penchant for hyperbole said so many things way out of proportion, particularly, when it comes to running commentaries on the perceived short comings of the governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki. He also has one or two things to say about the high flying candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr Asue Ighodalo.
If there was anyone that should never ever talk about human feelings or empathy, it should be Oshiomhole. He should never be in the book, he should never even be in the shadow of it let alone being mentioned in the equation.
How can a man who, when he was governor was completely bereft of human feeling and hadn’t a single ounce of compassion or pity for a widow and made a disgusting public disgrace of her, be the one talking about human feelings? This is the kind of incurable hypocrisy associated with ‘star men’ in a third world country like Nigeria.
This is not even an issue of pot calling kettle black because, Oshiomhole is the content that make up the blackness when it comes to being wicked towards people and not having any human feelings.
The woman in a video that went viral then begged him crying and pleading that her wares be not confiscated because she was a widow. No, not for ‘super man’ Oshiomhole. “I’m a widow” , the woman cried. But with a conscience tainted and blocked severely by ego and inexplicable guile, Oshiomhole shouted back, “You’re a widow, go and die.”
What sort of wicked person could say that? Yet, the same person wants to coach Edo people on what is called compassion. No, sir, you’re not qualified.
Forked tongued like a viper, the two people he talked down in Abuja on Friday were among the people he praised to high heaven only 8 months ago in November 2023 during an Alaghodaro Summit in Benin City.
How else do you define hypocrisy, subterfuge and manipulation if not that as represented by Adams Oshiomhole?
Orobosa writes from Benin City.
